All Forum Posts by: Geof Greeneisen

I've been purchasing in SE Michigan for the past 3 years. Our market has not been a favored market for lending due to the discounts banks have had to take to sell off their inventory. Bad for borrowing money, but good for acquisitions.

As such, purchases have been cash to date. Our properties are in solid neighborhoods outside of Detroit where nice 2 & 3 bedrooms pre-'07 were selling between $100k-$150k. The past couple of years we've been able to pick these houses up between $10k-$20k. Including improvements we don't have more than $25k into any one house.

At the same time rents have remained high. The lowest rent rate we have is $700/mo. and we average $750/mo. accross the portfolio. So we have good positive cash-flow.

One thing I would say is that landlording has expensive, unforeseen issues. I've been in real estate for 20 years but new to dealing with tenants and ownership demands. Having plenty of money coming in has allowed me to easily handle problems that I don't think I would have dealt with as well only eeking by with minor positive cash-flow.

Once I got to 10 properties I had additional expenses and began paying more for help with properties, reducing NOI. Now closing in on 20, I couldn't imagine doing this without that substantial monetary incentive each month.

For me It would just be too much of a grind to be highly leveraged and deal with day to day issues!

Patrick,

Welcome to BP!

What type of investing are you interested in? And what communities are you interested in?

Noah,

BP is a great site. If you would ever like to get together to compare notes on the market, feel free to connect with me. I'm 20 min away from you. The market has turned in our area and you are getting in at the right time.

I invest in SFH 45 mins away from where I live because that area best suits my investment strategy; buy & hold. You are in the same market and have ample opportunities for either buy & hold or fix & flip.

Best of luck to you, have fun!

Welcome Noah,

Are you looking at buying in Ann Arbor or in other communities? Ann Arbor is a tough market!

Hi Brian,

Welcome to BP. What area of investing are you looking to get into?

I like using Postlets. With one input it shouts out to several other sites. The one for me that gets hits in our area is Hotpads. I have only used the free sites and feel I get plenty of activity from them.

This weekend I've gotten inquiries from: Hotpads (3), Craigslist (3), and Zillow (2).

This was for a 2 bdrm that rents for $750/mo.

Hi Teresa,

Welcome to BP. What area (location) are you looking to invest in?

Hi Jarese Bradford welcome to BP!

You'll find a ton of information on this site. I've been investing in Royal Oak, Ferndale & Hazel Park for the past couple of years. If there is anything I can help you with I'd be glad to assist. What kind of investing are you looking at: fix & flip, buy & hold, or other?

Hi David,

Welcome to the site. You might reach out to Mark Yuschak I know he's active up there and might be able to lend some assistance. I do know several investors buying even in Flint and are doing quite well. So yes I think there is money to be made there as well as the surrounding counties.

Good luck!

Hi Nick Meister & Jeremy Vohwinkle welcome to BP! What area of real estate investing are you both looking at getting into? I went to Hope College and have watched the GR market for a long time. There are some great areas for flips and some other areas that are great for buy and hold.